When and why do groups participating in mass dissent choose to initiate terrorist campaigns? I argue that groups
involved in civil wars and mass civil resistance might face similar organizational pressures, which encourage the initiation
of terrorism due to higher tactical effectiveness. Internal organizational pressure might depend on leaders’ expectations
of a decline in followers’ commitment with protracted use of mass tactics. This is likely to motivate leaders to initiate
terrorist campaigns to secure organizational survival. External organizational pressures might depend on increasing
dissident campaigns’ fragmentation. This intensifies competition making leaders more likely to initiate terrorism so as to
establish themselves at the forefront of their movements. The findings provide empirical support consistent with my
claims and indicate no significant difference between civil wars and mass civil resistance movements with regards to
these effects. Contrary to the common idea that the use of conventional violence should entail a higher willingness
to engage in illegal violence against non-combatants, this finding suggests that conflict dynamics affect the decision to
initiate terrorism and that terrorist campaigns have a coherent strategic logic across different types of mass dissent.